SPOKANE – On Friday, 5th District congressional candidate Lisa Brown announced striking fundraising numbers yet again - with another $698,211 raised in a few weeks, surpassing Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ $391,501 for the most recent reporting period. Individual donors dominated contributions for Brown, with 88 percent of Brown’s $5.3 million total coming from individuals, in contrast to 47.6 percent of McMorris Rodgers’ total.

In the last 14 years, no previous challenger has come close to McMorris Rodgers in campaign contributions. Just last week, at the close of the third quarter, Brown’s campaign announced it had outraised Rep. McMorris Rodgers and was listed in the top 7 of campaigns by The New York Times for raising the most from small donors. The campaign has received contributions from over 26,000 individuals, with no contributions from corporate PACs. In contrast, 31 percent ($1.7 million) of McMorris Rodgers’ total come from corporate PACs.

Brown issued a statement in response to the latest fundraising numbers:

“Our latest report shows that the momentum for new leadership in eastern Washington is overwhelming, and only growing. My opponent is a leader of a gridlocked Congress frozen by the influence of special interests and paralyzed by partisanship. Congress went on recess with a broken budget process, a ballooning national deficit, an expired farm bill, and no progress in making our healthcare system more affordable.

“Our region is looking for an independent leader who will put their interests first. In Congress, I’ll work with Democrats and Republicans, like I always have, to bring affordable healthcare and good jobs to our region. I’ll work with the administration when it proposes legislation that will help eastern Washington, and challenge the administration when it proposes policies that hurt eastern Washington, such as the damaging tariffs and trade war threatening our consumers, farms, and businesses.”

Recent polling showed Brown and McMorris Rodgers in a neck-and-neck race for the 5th District seat. The Brown campaign has experienced a surge in raw donations since the August primary results, which showed McMorris Rodgers with less than 50 percent of the total vote and Brown a close second.

In the last year, Lisa has spoken and answered questions from the public at more than 50 community forums, roundtables with farmers, veterans, and advocates for people with disabilities, and “Lemonade with Lisa” in the park events throughout the district, none of which required a ticket to attend. Over 3,300 people have volunteered for the campaign at five field offices in Spokane, Colville, Cheney, Pullman, and Walla Walla.

88% of Lisa's contributions have come from individuals. 31% of Rep. McMorris Rodgers' have come from dark money PACs.